I love engines! Big or small, I love them all! The internal(infernal)combustion engine is one of the finest inventions of humankind. It powers my Harleys down the road. It gets me around in the winter when motorcycling is not an option. It also powers the small engines that keep our property manageable. What with all of the road construction going on and the endless mornings of buzzing chainsaws(the city removed 8 100 year old trees to make way for the new street)I had the urge to fire up my own miniature(22 inch, 2 cycle)gas powered saw to remove brush from the front. Some of the brush was 8 inches in diameter! I had not used this particular weapon of destruction for a few years so just getting it to run was a major chore. Two days and about 200 pulls on the cord later(plus some dinking around with the screws and stuff)it fired up. Several hours later after felling a dozen of the view(soon to be new)obstructing(we want to be able to see the new street, for sure)it suddenly hit me! After the trees are down, the real work begins, disposing of the small branches and cutting the rest into logs for the fire next year. I think I forgot that part while I was having fun chopping through the timber. That's a thing about living on the Great American Desert. One has the opportunity to hone those early settler skills, even unto the 21st century.
Here we are some 2000 years after the time of Christ, and we are still striving to get it right. Faith is the key, persistence is the stubborn lock that each of us must open in our own inimitable fashion, and the reward that awaits us is uncomprehendable.
The picture above is not of me or anything that I have done. It was sent in by one of my readers on the east coast. From there it is anyone's guess where it may have been taken. The unexpected is what we prepare for and probably what we fear the most. That is life! Unfolding, day to day, fraught with all of it's ups and downs, and the opportunities to surmount the difficulties and persevere. I sort of like that word, "persevere," it is a good portion of what comprises this life we live. I pray this day that there are no calamities the size of this one falling on your ride. Know that God loves you, and He has a wonderful sense of humor. In Christ's Love, Preacher.
